09/07/2006

Things that make you go boom

A beautiful day, a momentous day, and an overall up-and-down day. The day began with the final bit of chipping—no, not tricky golf shots from the rough. See yesterday’s entry for specifics.Once that was done, I was awaiting the BIG delivery of our lumber. To pass the time, I decided to clear the water out of the foundation in preparation for tomorrow’s pouring of the floor. I had laid a tarp down over our radiant tubing and insulation, and it did a good job of keeping the rain out of our foundation. A very good job.A 67 gallon good job. Yes, I spent some quality time with a 4-cup measuring scoop, a 5-gallon bucket, and 67 gallons of rainwater. I took no pictures of this endeavor, as I have no wish to remember it. All in all, it was worth it, as our foundation is predominantly dry and ready for a floor to be poured.

The delivery was late—scheduled to arrive at 12, but not actually getting there until almost 2.In the meantime, the crew was working on the septic, and the news was all good. The soil was perfect, the elevations were exquisite, and this would be the best septic system in Nelson, hands down. Let me tell you, our hillside was really shaping up. With the brush gone, the logs stacked, and the site straightened up, ready to receive the lumber, I could begin to visualize what the finished product would eventually become. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and I was whistling an old Irish jig. Life was grand.

Then came the trucks. Our excavator had gone out to check on another job, and came across our lumber trucks lost in an adjacent town. Evidently, they had been lost for quite a time, and were not happy. After being chaperoned back to Nelson, the boom truck had a heck of a time making the turn up the driveway. The driver was less than thrilled.His face was a shade of red usually reserved for very ripe tomatoes, or very fast Italian sports cars, and the words that jettisoned from that cab made me cringe. Me, who has been to a number of Yankees/Red Sox games at Yankee Stadium! This man was not a happy camper.

The site was not level. There was no room to put anything. He couldn’t turn around. The sky was too blue, the ground was too brown, etc, etc. Without getting into too many tedious details, the lumber was all off-loaded with the magical boom arm of the bigger truck (it truly is a wondrous machine), and they headed out, as did the wonderful excavating crew, who hung around to help me deal with the prickly situation. I was left alone, staring at the hillside which, just a few scant hours before, had left me almost speechless with its beauty. Now all I could focus on were the piles of lumber, everywhere, askant and askew with no respect to order, not to mention gravity. Luckily my excavator crew is going to help me get it straight in the morning, 6:30 am to be exact. So it is time for me to retire.